University Writing Essentials

When: September 8 & 9, 2025

Where: Dana Porter Library room 323 

An in-person workshop series designed to prepare you for success from your very first year. Learn how expectations at university differ from those in high school and find out about the many resources available to you.  Attend all three workshops or choose what interests you most. 

Beyond Google: Navigating library resources for academic success  (3:00 – 3:35  p.m.)

There is more to research than a quick Google search. This session will introduce you to UW Libraries’ research tools and services that go beyond Google. Learn how to efficiently find, access, and evaluate credible scholarly information for your assignments and projects. You will discover strategies for choosing the right research databases, finding peer-reviewed research, and assessing the relevance and credibility of your sources. Build your confidence and start your academic journey with research skills that will serve you throughout your university career.  

Succeeding at university level research and writing  (3:45 – 4:35  p.m.)

Your university writing assignments will be different from those you wrote in high school. Less descriptive and more analytic, these assignments will require a careful synthesis of academic research. In addition, the format and expectations differ widely across various fields of study. In this interactive workshop, you'll learn about the key differences between high school and university writing and discover how to build on what you already know so that you are prepared for success from your very first assignment!  

Using GenAI productively and ethically in university writing  (4:45 – 5:30  p.m.)

At university, you will be navigating new kinds of academic writing, which may require more sophisticated and critical approaches to using AI than you are used to. Learn how to use GenAI chatbots like ChatGPT and Copilot creatively and selectively to meet your learning and course goals.  In this workshop, we’ll discuss the importance of crafting a good prompt and share strategies for using GenAI chatbots as you plan, brainstorm, draft, and revise writing assignments for which you’re allowed or encouraged to use GenAI.  

A collaborative project of the Writing and Communication Centre and the University of Waterloo Libraries. 

The Writing and Communication Centre offers free online asynchronous workshops for University of Waterloo students and postdocs on topics related to writing and communication.  

Find them on LEARN by self-registering for the course “WCC Workshops.”  

Whether you’re getting started on a writing project and need help planning, want to learn strategies for revising your own writing, or need guidance on how to share your ideas in presentations or online, our workshops guide you through the writing process. We also offer workshops that introduce writers to different academic and professional genres, so if you’ve been asked to write something you’ve never had to write before, our workshops can give you the information you need to get started.  

All our workshops have been developed by expert Writing and Communication Centre (WCC) staff and are designed to help you understand the principles of communication, reflect on what it means for you as a communicator, and practice the skills you’ve learned.  

Working on a lab report, case study report, literature review, or a reflective essay?

WriteOnline.ca is a free online guide that takes you through your assignment from start to finish, or allows you to jump right to a specific section to get the information you need quickly and easily. Its templates and models, detailed directions, downloadable resources, and interactive writing space gives you everything you need to complete your assignment successfully.

Developed by a partnership of Writing Centres from the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and the University of Guelph, WriteOnline.ca is a high-quality and detailed resource. WriteOnline.ca is funded through the Council of Ontario Universities (COU).

The Writing and Communication Centre is focused on providing students with useful feedback and strategies for their research and writing projects; we are also focused on all aspects of the communication process, including professional communication documents like emails and memos, as well as documents designed for the web, such as ePortfolios and blogs. Feel free to view and print the resources we currently have available.

Feeling stuck? We can help with brainstorming, planning, writing, and revision. We can help if you’ve got a full draft of an assignment, don’t even know where to start, and anything in between. Our advisors and peer tutors are experts in supporting you with assignments in any faculty. 

Make an appointment with an advisor or peer tutor today!